Pak claims 'Indian networks' behind terror attacks in India

Lahore, Feb 25 (PTI) As Indo-Pak Foreign Secretaries met
in Delhi for talks aimed at ending the chill in bilateral
ties, Pakistan on Thursday claimed "Indian networks" were
behind the terror attacks in Mumbai and on the Samjhauta
Express and Indian Parliament.
Without giving any evidence to substantiate the claims,
Interior Minister Rehman Malik said a terrorist assault of the
magnitude of the Mumbai attacks could not have been carried
out without the backing of an "Indian network."
"I had said very openly during a press conference that
such a major terrorist incident like the Mumbai attacks could
not have happened without the involvement of an Indian
network," he told reporters after appearing in the Lahore High
Court in connection with the hearing of a case.
"There was (an Indian) network when the Samjhauta Express
was (attacked in 2007)... There was also (an Indian) network
involved in the attack on Indian Parliament (in 2001)," Malik
said.
"These are three networks that have been identified as
existing in India," he claimed without giving further details.
Malik referred to comments by Home Minister P Chidambaram
about Abu Jindal, a suspected Indian handler of the Mumbai
attacks, to back his contention about the involvement of an
"Indian network" in the incident.
"Time proved me right when Chidambaram said that Abu
Jindal was involved. That means there is a network," he said.
However, Chidambaram had only said that Indian
authorities suspected Abu Jindal was an Indian.

Chidambaram had said that Abu Jindal could have
infiltrated into India and lived in the country long enough to
acquire 'Indian characteristics'.
He had also said India had not received voice samples
from Pakistan that could help establish Abu Jindal's real
identity.
Malik's remarks came even as the Foreign Secretaries of
India and Pakistan held talks in New Delhi to normalise
bilateral relations, which went into a deep freeze following
the November 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.
India has linked the normalisation of ties to Pakistan
taking action against terror groups based on its soil,
including the Lashker-e-Taiba that it has blamed for the
Mumbai incident and the attack on the Indian Parliament.
Despite making allegations about the involvement of
Indian networks in attacks in India, Malik said he did not
"want any signal to go from Pakistan that shows we are
creating negativity."
"We want positive things. We do not want terrorism on our
soil and we will not encourage anybody using our soil for that
particular purpose," he said.
Malik made it clear that regional peace could not be
achieved if Pakistan and Afghanistan are destabilised.
"We all have to work for stability and peace in the
region because this is the guarantee for peace for the world,"
he said. PTI RHL
AHM